Dioxygen reacts with metal-carbon bonds in thorium dialkyls to produce bis(alkoxides)

Dalton Trans. 2019 Apr 23;48(17):5569-5573. doi: 10.1039/c9dt00811j.

Abstract

Exposure of bis-amidinate and -guanidinate supported thorium dialkyl complexes to dioxygen results in facile oxygen atom insertion and formation of the corresponding thorium bis(alkoxide) species. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggest a radical propagation mechanism is operative. All new complexes were fully characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, IR, EA and X-ray crystallography.